“Walden” Seminar

Date:

November 4, 2013 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:

Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA

“Walden” Seminar and Discussion Group

4 Mondays, November 4–25

Before Botox, Thoreau was the champion of perennial youth: "Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost." We will see how Thoreau goads us into seeing multiple perspectives -- there are "as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre" -- in order to help us to "give up our prejudices." Conversation will explore elements and consistency of Thoreau's worldview, as he moves us from our work-a-day lives into the beauty and wonder that surrounds us. Thoreau's Ode to Joy!

The commentary and discussion will explore key themes of Thoreau's classic work, Walden. Emphasis will be given to individual as opposed to collective action, the exploration of living not only deliberately but also authentically, and the importance of time, eternity, and myth within the work. Walden gives voice to Thoreau's vision but also to the spirit of the times -- romanticism, science, and philosophy -- of New England Transcendentalism, which you will understand finally in all its esoteric and exacting splendor.

Takeaways: Walden demystified. Thoreau de-stereotyped. All your questions answered. And a greater sense of the wonder, to boot, at being awake, aware, and alive!

Michael Frederick, Executive Director of The Thoreau Society, will lead a discussion group on Thoreau’s Walden. Co-sponsored by The Thoreau Society and the Transcendentalism Council of First Parish in Concord. Michael did his graduate work at Harvard on Thoreau's Social Philosophy and post graduate work at the Thoreau Institute on Thoreau's late natural history project, Wild Fruits. Enrollment limited to 12.

Fee: $60 donation to the Thoreau Society

Includes Refreshments at the Birth House of Henry D. Thoreau. Participants will receive a paperback edition of Walden, Princeton University Press.